Who experts: the world is unfair, unjust and divided

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According to experts, the Corona pandemic has exposed an unjust, broken and divided world. Countries collectively are not capable of ending the Corona pandemic in the near future, nor preventing a similar pandemic, write the independent experts on the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Preparedness Monitoring Panel. They presented their report Tuesday at the World Health Summit in Berlin.

“Covid-19 has exposed a broken world that is unfair, unaccountable and divided,” it says. While the Corona pandemic cost hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide, countries were unable to find a common solution, it said. Whether someone has the chance to be vaccinated against the corona virus depends not on need, but on whether the home country can pay for the vaccine.

Solidarity is confused with goodwill
There is a fundamental misunderstanding that solidarity has only to do with goodwill and helping the weak, the report says. It is much more about fair treatment and the common interests of Earth’s inhabitants, it says. “Rich countries donate medical resources instead of building manufacturing capacity, sharing technology, and accepting fairer patent protections,” the report criticizes.

WHO has long complained that rich countries have helped themselves to Corona vaccines first and are already offering booster shots, while in many countries even health workers are still desperately waiting for the chance to receive a first dose of vaccine. In 2020, the WHO launched the COVAX solidarity-based vaccination project with the support of rich countries. It was supposed to pool research funds for vaccines and then ensure fair distribution around the world. But rich countries dropped out and signed supply contracts with manufacturing companies in parallel. As a result, COVAX could not buy enough vaccine doses to serve poorer countries.

Recommendation
The panel recommends, among other things, an international treaty that makes a specific commitment by countries to prepare for and respond fairly globally to future pandemics. It also believes a funding mechanism is needed to ensure that sufficient money is available quickly and flexibly in the event of an emergency.

The Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB) was established in 2018 by WHO and the World Bank. Independent experts regularly report on whether promises to improve preparedness for health emergencies are being kept and recommend improvements.